Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Edition Video Card Review

A Closer Look At The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Edition Video Card

As I mentioned before, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Video Card is not a large video card. The PCB itself is 8.25 inches long, and once you add the fan shroud that extends well beyond and makes the card 9-inches in length. The fan shroud and the heat pipes extend past the PCB as well height-wise and give the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Video Card a height of 5″. The card is the standard double slot width that has become the norm for higher performance video cards today. This should be just fine for most of the computer enclosures out on the market today, except for maybe some of the smaller HTPC enclosures and small form factor systems.

Here we get a really good look at the front of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Video Card and the two 100mm fans that are part of the Windforce cooling system. I usually don’t comment about things like this, but I really like the way this card looks. It looks like it is ready to kick some ass and tear up your games.

Unlike a lot of the video cards I have looked at lately the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Video Card has a blue PCB instead of a black PCB, not that it matters. But here we can see the back of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Video Card. Nothing really striking about it.

Right here we get a really good look at the two 6 pin power connectors that are needed to power the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Video Card. Not only does it use the two 6 pin power connectors, but Gigabyte recommends a 500 watt or greater power supply for the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Video Card. Even though Gigabyte does not have a recommended rail amperage, we estimate that you will need at least 24 amps available on the 12 volt rail.

Here we get a good look at the fans and the heatsink that make up the Windforce cooling system and behind the fans we have a glimpse of the four heat pipes. Not only can the Windforce cooling system keep your Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Video Card nice and cool, it does so with very minimal noise. Even with the fans turned up to 100% I could hear the single 120 mm fan on the radiator of my water cooling system over the two 100 mm fans of the Windforce system.

Moving to the other end of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Video Card we see that it sports 2 DVI connectors and a mini HDMI connector. The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Video Card also supports standard HDMI, Displayport and D-sub via adapter.

The photo above gives us a really close look at the four 6mm direct contact heat pipes that are a big part of the Windforce cooling system on the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Video Card.